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SPEECH 



OF 



HON. THOMAS N. STILWELL, 



OF INDIANA, 



ox 



EECONSTRUCTION; 



DELIVERED 



IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEBRUARY 5, 1866. 



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WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 

1866. 



X 






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RECONSTRUCTION. 



Tho House being in the Committee of the Whole 
on the state of the Union — 

Mr. STILWELLsaid: 

Mr. Chairman: From the 14th da}' of April, 
1861, when the American flag was fired on at 
Fort Sumter, until the surrender of General 
Lee and his whole army to General Grant, 
April 9, 18G5, the people of eleven of the States 
of this Union were in armed rebellion against 
ihe national Government. 

It was the proclaimed object of these people 
to cut the threads of national life, and sever the 
bonds of political Union. 

It was the proclaimed object of the national 
Government to maintain its rightful authority 
over these States ; to execute its laws and pro- 
tect its flag over every foo^M^is widely ex- 
tended territory ; to mark|^^^H|ish rebellion 
as a flagrant crime ; andt^^TOg back the de- 
luded masses to a Union which for nearly eighty 
yeai4 had spread over them the maVtle of peace 
and prosperity. 

THE ISSUE. 

That the public mind might be clearly in- 
formed of the issue involved : that no one might 
enter tho army on either side under misappre- 
hension ; that when the battle was ended, and 
peace again restored, there should be no doubt 
or cavil in regard to the objects of the war. 
Congress, speaking in the name of the nation, 
passed, on the 23d of July, ISfil, by a nearly 
unanimous vote, the following resolution : 

'_' That this war is not prosecuted upon our part in 
any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of con- 
quest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or 



interfering with the rights or established institutions 
of those States, but to defend and maintain the suprem- 
acy of tho Constitution and all laws made in pursu- 
anco_ thereof, and to preserve the Union with all the 
dignity, equality, and rights of the several States un- 
impaired ; that as soon as these objects are accom- 
plished the war ought to cease." 

ITS OBLIGATIOXS. 

There is not in the whole history of legisla- 
tion an act of greater solemnity, or a contract 
more binding. Am I wrong in calling it a con- 
tract? Did it not pledge the national faith to 
every one in arms, that when he should capit- 
ulate, the rights of his State and of self-govern- 
ment should be preserved to his children and 
kindred, even though he might sufler the pen- 
alties of the law? 

Did it not pledge the national faith to every 
Union man in the southern States, that, if he 
would stand fast to the Government, all his' 
rights should be protected, and when peace 
should come, be fully restored to him? Did 
it not pledge the national faith to every man 
who enlisted in the service of his country, 
that no love of power, no lust of conquest, 
no military subjugation, should enter into the 
purposes of tho war, but that it was waged 
merely to preserve, not to destroy Government? 

Have not those in tho southern States who 
have been true to their allegiance amid ilie 
most bitter persecutions known in the annals of 
history, who have seen their dwellings burned 
and their fields desolated, and who have fled to 
their mountains for refuge, and raised the flag 
on their summits, no claim to the fulfillment of 
this pledge? Have those at the North, who 
rushed to the battle-field to preserve natioual 



unity and restore national fraternity, no right 
to insist on the fulfillment of this pledge, with- 
out which they would have remained at home ? 
Has not the nation itself a right to demand on 
this floor, and everywhere, that its plighted 
faith and its sacred honor, which have survived 
the storm of revolution, shall not perish in the 
halls of its own Capitol ? 

It is said, I know, that one Congress is not 
bound by the acts of a previous Congress, and 
that what was done in 1861 is not binding in 
18G6. Can this be so? Is the pledge of the 
national faith to pay money more binding than 
when it was made to preserve Government and 
protect liberty ? Is the millionaire, who stays 
at home and lends his money, a more favored 
creditor of the nation than he who shoulders his 
musket and goes to the field under the solemn 
pledge that State institutions should survive the 
shock of battle ? National faith is essential to 
national life. It is the cementing bond of Union, 
the noblest attribute of government, and the 
virtue nearest allied to the great source of om- 
niscient wisdom and justice. 

This resolution adopted in the first year of 
President Lincoln's administration, shaped his 
policy and was the guide of his public life. All 
his acts had reference to it ; under it he declared 
that to save the Union, (that is, to preserve the 
States,) was the first and great di^ty. To this 
everything was made subservient. If it could 
be done by protecting slavery, then slavery was 
to be protected. If it could best be done by 
destroying slavery, then slavery was to be de- 
stroyed. Hence, his administration was sim- 
ple, straightforward, and consistent; and it is 
a matter of record that this policy received the 
unanimous support of his Cabinet. 

His address to the people of Washington on 
the loth of April, 1865, the last public act of 
his life, v/as the most studied, comprehensive, 
and perfect of the many papers wliich he has 
left for the instruction of posterity. It re- 
capitulated all the principles laid down in the 
resolution, and gave to it a practical and tan- 
gible form. The system was perfect in all its 
parts, and complete in all its details. The time 
for practical application had come, and that 
application was about to be made by him, when 
the hand of the assassin deprived the nation 
of its head, the Constitution of its wisest de- 



fender, and the State governments of their 
truest friend. 

By the action of our institutions the respon- 
sible duty of carrying out these measures de- 
volved on the Vice President, Andrew Johnson. 
Here a wide field of ambition was opened to the 
new President. Armies were to be employed 
or disbanded; old States proscribed, or new 
ones brought into existence ; the policy of the. 
old Administration was to be continued, or a 
new policy adopted ; and we all remember how 
the nation held its breath while these questions 
were under advisement. 

At length the decree came forth that the 
jjolicy of Abraham Lincoln was to be continued. 
That the resolution of July 23, 1861, which had 
formed the platform of the war, was also to be 
the platform of peace ; and that those who had 
l^inned their faith on the solemn declaration ot 
Congress, were not to be disappointed. 

The South immediately showed signs ot 
national life. Industry, apparently dead, began 
to revive; confidence, which had been lost, re- 
turned with a bold step; and hope, which was 
about to expire, was again lighted up in the 
hearts of the people. The North felt that their 
labors had not been in vain; that they were 
again to have a whole country, a united coun- 
try, and that the blood which had been shed on 
many battle-fields would- but cement and pre- 
serve our Union. 

Congress had laid down the rule. President 
Lincoln had interpreted it, and President John- 
son accepted the interpretation and followed it. 
How earnestly he has labored to carry forward 
this great work; how many great difficulties 
have been interposed both North and South, to 
its final accomplishment ; how party strife has 
at last come in unbidden, even in the hour of 
the nation's greatest peril, to thwart the holy 
purposes of union and fraternity, I need not 
stop to say. That the matured jjlans of Pres- 
ident Lincoln, faithfully carried out by President 
Johnson, will finally be accepted by the Amer- 
ican people, is my firm belief and earnest hope. 

COXGRKSS. 

Since the opening of the session of Congress 
many new theories of reconstruction have been 
put forward. For the past four years the in- 
genuity of the legal profession has employed 
itself in demonstrating that the Union of the 



5 



States is indissoluble ; that the Constitution has 
conferred no power either on the Supreme 
Court, on Congress, on the several States, or 
on the people of the States to break the bonds 
of its authority and release the people from 
their allegiance. Wo had supposed this to be 
a political axiom. After four years of bitter 
strife we had hoped that the bond of our Union, 
after it had been bathed in the blood of a half 
uiillion of patriots, would never again be called 
in question. But, Mr. Chairman, in this we are 
mistaken. 

The argument of the gifted and eloquent gen- 
tleman from Ohio, [Mr. Shellabakger,] deliv- 
ered in this Hall on the 8th of January, goes to 
prove that there is a power within the Govern- 
ment which can destroy it, and that that power 
has been successfully exerted. He has labored 
to prove that a noble Union of thirty-six States 
has been shattered in pieces, and that eleven 
of those States, broken and dismembered, are 
now drifting on the billows of revolution like 
the hulks of a fleet disabled and scattered by 
the storm. And, sir, by what train of argu- 
ment has he reached a conclusion so opposed 
to the national in.stinct and the convictions of 
the public judgment. 

He has searched the law of nations to find 
the definition of a State, as it lives in the family 
of nations — an independent sovereignty, co- 
equal, existing under certain conditions, and 
possessing certain attributes, and then, sir, has 
appliedthatdefinitiontothe States of our Union 
—the States of a constitutional Government, 
m which each derives its characteristics and its 
attributes not from the law of nations, but from 
a written Constitution defining and limiting the 
powers of each and all, and marking with accu- 
racy their joint and several duties and their 
mutual relations. His whole argument, based 
on his definition of a State, therefore falls to the 
ground, for the argument can apply only to what 
is covered by the definition, and hence is entirely 
inapplicable to States as they exist under our 
form of government. 

ADMISSION OF STATES AND TREASON. 

The gentleman from Ohio has bestowed much 
learning and lal)or on the question of admitting 
States into the Union, and has pointed out very 
clearly the antecedent conditions of such admis- 
sion. But, sir, does all this show that the rights 



which are conferred by admission can be for- 
feited afterward? Does it show that a State can 
go out of the Union as well as into it? 

"Treason aprainst the United States shall consist in 
levying war against them, or in adhering to their ene- 
mies, giving them aid and comfort." — Constitution, 
art. 3, sec. 3. 

Does this apply to individuals or to States ? 
The next paragraph answers the question : 

" No person shall be convicted of treason unless on 
the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, 
or on confession in open court." 

Now, sir, the Constitution gives no definition 
of treason as applied to a State. It is the trea- 
son of the individual which the Constitution de- 
fines and for which it prescribes a punishment. 
This, sir, is both the letter and the spirit of the 
instrument. In neither a paragraph or a line 
of that instrument is there any allusion to the 
expulsion or punishment of a State. The per- 
son or indi'S'idual is alone referred to, and the 
State, as such, is in nowise held responsible. 
The Government has retained, in its own hands, 
the power and right to punish treason. Having 
done this, would it be just to hold a State re- 
sponsible when its citizens commit treason. (]an 
Congress impose such responsibility? 

WHAT THE CONSTITUTION GUARANTIE.S. 

"The United States shall guaranty to every State 
in this Union a republican form of government, and 
shall protect cacli of them against inv.asion, and on 
application of the Legislature, or of the Executive, 
(when the Legislature cannot bo convened,) against 
domestic violence." — Constitution, art, 4, sec. i. 

Now, sir, what does this article of the Con- 
stitution guaranty ? A republican form of gov- 
ernment. To whom does it guaranty it? To 
every State in this Union. Does it guaranty it 
toStatesoutof the Union? Certainly not. This 
power, therefore, can only be exercised by Con- 
gress over States in the Union, and not over 
States out of it. In fact, sir, the Constitution 
never contemplated the case of a State going otf t . 
or being out, of the Union. Gentlemen on thi< 
floor have labored, with much astuteness and 
learning, to show how a State may go out of 
the Union ; and that, under their way, elovcn 
of the States have actually gone out. 

I beg leave to remind those gentlemen, with 
great respect, that although the mode is some- 
what novel, the principle itself is not new. It I> 
the same principle which firSt appeared in the 
celebrated resolutions of 17!)8, which was re- 
vived under the name of nullification by John C. 



6 



Calhoun in 1830, and culminated in secession in 
1861. It is the same vicious principle which 
has seduced the hearts of a portion of our peo- 
ple from their allegiance to government, which 
has trampled on our flag, which has bathed our 
land in blood and filled our honles with mourn- 
ing. I had hoped, sir, that four years of war, 
and such a war, had wiped out forever from 
the public mind every thought of nullification, 
secession, and disunion, and that we had 
emerged from the bloody contest with but one 
national ]3ulsation, that the States "are one 
and inseparable, now and forever." 

The gentleman from Ohio has been at great 
pains to show that the Government has a right 
to treat every individual of a State that has been 
in rebellion as a public enemy ; that is, adjudge 
him guilty of treason and deprive him of cit- 
izenship, while the Constitution expressly pro- 
vides that "no person shall be convicted of 
treason unless on the testimony of two wit- 
nesses to the same overt act, or on confession 
in open court." 

What, Mr. Chairman, would be the practical 
operation of this new doctrine of constructive 
treason ; of declaring that whenever by fraud 
or violence a State government should be inter- 
rupted or overthrown the whole people within 
its borders, as a body, should be treated as pub- 
lic enemies and beyond the protection of the 
General Government. Would it aot at once 
transfer the allegiance of every citizen from the 
national to the State government, and effect- 
ually destroy our entire system? AYhen the 
storms of tumult and civil discord should rage, 
would the affrighted citizen fly to the flag of his 
country only to be told that his State had re- 
belled and that he himself was a traitor? What 
nerved the arms and inspired the hearts of so 
many true patriots in the South during the 
recent struggle? It was the conviction that 
citizenship could only be lost by individual acts 
and not forfeited by the acts of others. It was 
the conviction that the air they breathed was 
the atmosphere of the whole nation, and that 
when the storm had passed it would again be 
pure, invigorating, and peaceful. 

I know of no people, in any age or country, 
who adhered to their allegiance with greater 
fidelity, met danger with more determined bra- 
very, who offered up their lives more cheer- 



fully, and bore the flag of their country through 
fiercer storms than the Union men of the South. 
Andrew Johnson, in a speech to the people of 
Knoxville, thus describes their condition: 

"My countrymen! my heavt yearns toward you, 
and I am one of you. I have climbed yonder moun- 
tains, rock-ribbed and glowing in sunshine, in whose 
gorges, in whose caverns your sons, hunted like beasts, 
have fallen to rise no more. I do not speak of. these 
things to draw your tears.. It is not the time for tears. 
but for blows. I speak of them that I may lit your 
arms for unconquerable fight. And I speak of them 
because the mountain seems to talk to me. My house 
is among the mountains, and, though it is not far 
away, I cannot go to it. It is the place where I met 
and loved her who is the mother of my children. Do 
Inotlovethemountains? And if liberty is to expire, 
if freedom is to be destroyed, if my country in all ita 
length and breadth is to tremble beneath the oppres- 
sor's tread, let the flag, the dear old flag, the last flag, 
be planted on yon rocky heights, and upon it let 
there be this inscription: 'Here is the end of all 
that is dear to the heart and sacred to tlie memory of 
manl'" 

The doctrine of the gentleman from Ohio 
treats these men as public enemies, and deems 
them to have forfeited their political rights. 
And indeed, sir, his doctrine has received some 
sanction from the action of the House itself. 
The time, however, must come, and that soon, 
when we shall be brought face to face on all these 
great questions. We must decide whether those 
who were members of Congress during the most 
critical period of the rebellion, (including the 
President himself, ) who went home and encount- 
ered all its furies, and have come back with 
certificates of election, are to be admitted, or 
are to be shot down, as rebels, at the door of 
the Capitol, not by the bullets of the enemy, 
but by the votes of Congress. 

WHEN REPRESENTATIVES SHOULD BE ADMITTED. 

Immediately after the military surrender of 
the rebel armies, the Presidenthad to accept the v 
civil surrender of the people. The session of 
Congress had just terminated, and they would 
not reassemble uiitil December. The Cabinet 
the legal advisers of Mr. Lincoln, were at their 
posts, and the President solicited their coun- 
sel and aid. All that Congress had asked, as 
conditions precedent to reconstruction, was the 
adoption oftheconstitutionalamendmentswhich 
they had passed. I think it must be admitted 
that after these had been accepted, in good 
faith, no subsequent conditions could justly be 
imposed. The President, however, acting in 
the true spirit that had governed his predeces- 
sors, went even beyond what he or Congress 
had asked, and suggested to the southern peo- 



pie that they would best promote the common 
interests of nil by adding to the conditions which 
Congress had prescribed the utter repudiation 
oi' the confederate debt in all its forms, and a 
full guarantee to the African race of entire 
©quality with the whites in all matters affect- 
ing personal liberty and civil rights. 

My sentiments on these matters are fally 
>«iatcd in the following resolution which I had 
the honor of presenting to this Ilouse on the 
l!»th day of December: 

" Jtesoivcd, That when the people who have liecn in 
rfliellion jigainst the (lorcrnmont have submitted to 
tlie hiws (it the United State?, adopted a rcpublicau 
I'oriu of government, rei)ealcd the ordinance of seces- 
riion, passed the constitutional amendment forever 
abolishinjc slavery, repudiated the rebel war debt, and 
))assed laws protecting the freedman in his liberty; 
the representatives of those people elected to Con- 
gress, and having received their cerlificates of election 
fiDUi their respective Governors, should be received 
as members of the Thirty-Ninth Congress when they 
>:liall take the oath prescribed by the last Congress, 
known as the test oath, without delay." 

Under such conditions, when they are com- 
]>Hed with in good faith, Mr. Chairman, I am 
ready to vote for the admission immediately of 
all loyal men who come here and take the pre- 
scribed oath that "they have never voluntarily 
assisted in the rebellion." What power, sir, 
l!a.s aright to exclude such representatives? If 
the rights of one man cannot be taken away by 
the misconduct of another, the loyal citizens of 
every State of this Union have an equal right 
to be represented here. And when, sir, the 
subject has been fully considered, I feel that 
that right will be cheerfully and speedily ac- 
corded. 

OUR FOREICy RELATIONS. 

Are there not, Mr. Chairman, strong motives 
arising out of our foreign relations, that should 
urge us to harmony, fraternity, and union ? 
Without these we can never be great, we can 
never be strong. No sooner had the echo of 
the first gun (ired at Sumter reached the Brit- 
ish isle, than the old lion shook the dew-drops 
from his mane and began to growl. During the 
entire struggle, a rumbling sound ran through 
the entire British empire, indicating a wish to 
titrike us if the happy moment should arrive. 
Privateers were fitted out under the very eye of 
the Government to prey upon our commerce ; 
insulting paragraplis appeared in all their pub- 
lic journals : protection and sympathy were 
extended to rebels by public meetings and on I 
all public occasions, and we were indebted for | 



the preservation of peace to our great strength 
and the bravery of our troops in the field. 
France, our ancient ally, and who went with 
us, side by side, through the Revolution, also 
sought to profit by our misfortunes, and sent 
an army to Mexico to overturn a sister repub- 
lic and establish there a monarchy, in direct 
hostility to the policy of our Government, pro- 
claimed to the world forty years ago and fol- 
lowed implicitly by every Administration to the 
present time. Now, sir, with a knowledge of 
these facts, indicating a settled purpose abroad 
to profit by our divisions at home, is it wise to 
foment civil discord and divide in interest and 
sentiment this great nation, which should be 
bound together by all the ties which can unite 
a people ? 

OUR FIKANCES. 

The finances of a nation are alike the evidences 
of its greatness and the foundations of its power. 
No subject engages so earnestly the attention 
of a statesman as how to make labor most use- 
ful and productive. The southern States are 
capable of producing at the present moment, 
by a rightly adjusted system of labor, four mil- 
lion bales of cotton per annum, which at pres- 
ent prices would be worth $800,000,000; add 
to this $100,000,000 for rice and tobacco, and 
we have an annual amount, at present prices, 
for three articles alone, of one third of our 
entire national debt. Now, Mr. Chairman, in- 
stead of bringing these people back into the 
Union, encouraging and developing their in- 
dustry, making them again a part of the Gov- 
ernment and obliging them to contribute their 
full share in the payment of the national debt, 
there are gentlemen on this floor who would 
expend $50,000,000 annually for the poor grat- 
ification of keeping them out of the Union for 
four years longer. AVe have been fighting for 
four years to bring them back into the Union. 
And how, sir, is this $50,000,000 to be fur- 
nished? It is to be collected by the tax-gath- 
erer from the honest laborer of the North. Is 
it worth while to sacrifice so much for passion 
and Resentment? Is it not better to calm sec- 
tional strife, to heal the wounds of the nation, 
to absorb in the current of a healthy public 
sentiment the disloyalty which yet bursts from 
a few hearts as the mighty river carries the little 
rills which issue from the mountain side? 



ELECTIVE FRANCHISE. 

Ill regard to the subject of the elective fran- 
chise, I agree with the President in his message, 

which says : 

"When, at the first movement toward independ- 
ence, tlie Cousress of the United States instructed the 
several States to institute governments of their own, 
they left eaeli State to decide for itself the conditions 
for the enjoyment of the elective franchise." 

I heartily concur in the above, and believe 
that the regulation of the elective franchise in 
all the States, and the qualifications of electors 
belong to the States each for itself, and are sub- 
jects in which Congress, under the Constitution, 
has no right to interfere ; the policy of the Presi- 
dent on this, as well as on many other subjects, 
was to preserve the Government as he found it, | 
and not to make a new one, the Constitution of i 
tlie United States having referred the matter of 
suffrage to the States, and invested them with 
tJie exclusive power over it, and it was not com- 
petent for the President to interfere with a pre- 
rogative so expressly conferred uponthem, and 
80 long exercised by them. 

I will not, Mr. Chairman, pursue this subject 
further. I rejoice in the great good which the 
recent contest has produced. I hope we may 
reap all its legitimate fruits. I hope it will make 
us a great and united people, with one language, 
one heart, one destiny. I rejoice, sir, that the 
African race has risen to the condition of free- 
dom. In the dispensations of Providence the 
nation laid its hands on the bowed captives 
and they sprang to the dignity of freedom. It 



touched their sightless eyes and they opened to 
the morning light of perpetual liberty. At the 
beginning of the contest they appeared to bo 
the orphans of Providence ; at its close they are 
the wards of the Republic. Under Providence', 
the guiding legislation of Congress, and the wis- 
dom and justice of those whom they live among, 
they are now to go forward to their final destiny. 
Starting as men, with perfect equality before the 
law, they will soon become an important part 
of the body politic. Time will wear away pre- 
judice and soon reconcile all parties to the ne.v 
condition of things. 

Mr. Chairman, lamhopefulofthefuture. The 
Constitution, as it stands, is the bond of perfect 
union and the guarantee of innumerable bless- 
ings to this people. Under it we have grown to 
be a great and powerful nation. It seems to me 
to embrace within its ample folds every State 
and every individual of each State, whether he 
be rebel or loyal ; and that it has full power to 
punish the one and protect the other. I hojx;. 
sir, that in settling the grave question before us 
we shall keep ourselves v.'ithin the bounds ol 
this great charter of our liberties, and that lio 
considerations of party ad-Aintage or political 
power will swerve us from the line of duty at a 
moment so critical. If this be so the future 
presents no difficulties. The eleven eclipsed 
stars will pass from under the shadows which now 
obscure them, and return to the pure light of a 
restored and happy Union. 



i 



